by John Young
A recent study conducted by cognitive scientist Peter Todd and his colleagues from Europe confirms the adaptive value of EAU’s Statement of Ethics. The study confirms stereotypes about mate selection: men pursue women who are physically attractive, and women pursue men who can provide security.
Certainly, such stereotypes often fall by the wayside for people whose transcendant values are deep-rooted, and ideas regarding what constitutes attractiveness and security will vary based upon philosophy and experience. In addition, the EAU membership are among the most perspicacious and least superficial subset of our folk, so you won’t find any emulating Anna Nicole or Hugh Hefner. Nevertheless, our ethical underpinnings concentrate on each member realizing his or her greatest potential in every respect, which automatically enhances their value as mates.
To recap, briefly, our http://www.europeanamericansunited.org/index.php?categoryid=20&p2_articleid=5 states in part:
“… we expect our members to set a positive, productive example for their family and community in all of their manners and behaviors, including the maintenance of their physical appearance and their choice of acquaintances and personal habits; we expect our members to advance their education or employment in such a way that will enrich themselves and, by extension, benefit the organization and our people …”
The full study will be reported in the upcoming edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In preview, Indiana University’s Peter Todd states:
“While humans may pride themselves on being highly evolved, most still behave like the stereotypical Neanderthals when it comes to choosing a mate.
“Evolutionary theories in psychology suggest that men and women should trade off different traits in each other, and when we look at the actual mate choices people make, this is what we find evidence for. … Ancestral individuals who made their mate choices in this way — women trading off their attractiveness for higher quality men and men looking for any attractive women who will accept them — would have had an evolutionary advantage in greater numbers of successful offspring.”According to a http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/iu-cam083007.php by the study’s author:
“For Todd’s study, 46 adults in a speed-dating session were also asked to fill out a questionnaire beforehand assessing themselves and their ideal mate according to evolutionarily relevant traits, such as physical attractiveness, present and future financial status, health and parenting qualities.
Not surprisingly, Todd said, participants stated they wanted to find someone who was like themselves — a socially acceptable answer. But once the sessions began, the men sought the more attractive women and the women were drawn to material wealth and security, setting their standards according to how attractive they viewed themselves. Furthermore, while men on average wanted to see every second woman again, the women wanted to meet only a third of the men again.”
The results of this study demonstrate the importance and utility of the EAU Statement of Ethics for our members. EAU members are encouraged to make the most of their innate abilities and talents in every aspect of their lives — physically, educationally, morally, materially. Be the best you can, in every way you can — life demands nothing less.
This process of self-overcoming maximizes each member’s value in the mating marketplace. For those of us who are married, it increases our value to our respective spouses and families and thus decreases the risk of divorce. When you are the best you can be, you will attract the best into your life.